DEAR ABBY: Thank you for your response to "Unglued in Massachusetts," who was offended when people use a preprinted mailing label on their correspondence. You asked her what was more important -- the envelope or its contents.
I am a deaf, legally blind man with partially paralyzed fingers on my writing hand. I use the labels for mailing, and give them to people in places like repair shops and medical offices when I'm asked for my personal information.
Abby, my handwriting looks like a doctor's prescription written on a plane in heavy turbulence. However, even in my condition, I still get the impression people think it is rude of me to use the labels. -- SCOTT E. JOHNSTON, APOPKA, FLA.
DEAR SCOTT: Your reasons for using preprinted labels are practical and sensible. Common sense has to rule. Read on:
DEAR ABBY: I am a retired U.S. postal employee and would like to inform "Unglued" that the U.S. Postal Service recommends and prefers preprinted mailing labels in place of handwritten names and addresses. Our automation equipment can read legible preprinted labels at an enormous rate of speed, thus getting the mail to the addressee much quicker. -- BOB MIKRUT, GLEN ELLYN, ILL.
DEAR BOB: Thank you for writing. For anyone who doesn't know it, the Postal Service also prefers envelopes on which addresses have been typed in capital letters with no punctuation marks.